Papers by Author: Helene Citterio-Bigot

Abstract: Technology developments of implant composition and manufacture have been used in the medical field. Several different implants have been developed with varying degrees of commercial success. As a long-term establishment is a measure of the therapeutic success, it is necessary to use biocompatible implants in order to have good mechanical and fracture resistance of new bone reconstructed at the interface with the implant. Titanium (Ti-Al-4V) implants coated with hydroxyapatite (HAp), Ca10 (PO4)6 (OH)2 are widely used in orthopedic applications in order to obtain a stable and functional direct connection between the bone and the implant. At the implant-bone interface the new bone reconstituted after implantation must have the same orientation as the natural bone in order to accept the implant. Therefore we studied the texture and the crystallinity of the new bone crystals reconstituted at the interface applying by high-energy synchrotron radiation on beamline ID15 at ESRF in Grenoble, France.

Abstract: The quantitative evaluation of the preferential orientation of crystallites by the synchrotron and neutron diffraction techniques during regeneration at the interface with implant gives a good prediction of the mechanical properties of the bone. During the process of bone healing after implantation, the speed and quality of regeneration is affected by the nature of the implant surface. Titanium alloy (Ti-Al-4V) is currently coating with the hydroxyapatite (HAp), Ca10(PO4)6 (OH)2, in order to obtain a stable and functional direct connection between bone and implant. At the interface implant-bone, the new bone reconstituted after implantation must have the same mechanical properties of bone in order to accept the implant. Therefore, it is necessary to study by means of two non destructive techniques: neutron diffraction and synchrotron radiation, the crystal growth and texture of this new bone crystals reconstituted at the interface.

Abstract: The aim of this study was to create a nano-structured coating using Plasma Thermal Spraying (PTS). This process consists in introducing pre-agglomerated nanosized particles in a high-temperature and high-velocity gas jet and projected them onto the substrate to form, layer by layer, a nanostructured coating. In order to retain nanometer grain sizes in the deposited coating through specific PTS technologies, a thermal field and velocity distribution in the plasma jet are analytically calculated. A finite element analysis is employed to calculate the thermal field evolution inside the agglomerated particles and the thermal induced internal stress distribution is determined. The parameters determined by the theoretical analysis are used for experimental coatings. The average crystallite size of nano-hydroxyapatite powder was 90nm. After deposit via Plasma Thermal Spraying (PTS) process and followed by a 2 hours heat treatment to reduce amorphous fraction, the experimental deposited coating shows that it retains the nanometer crystallite sizes. The substructure of nanocrystals was evaluated at about 120nm in size. Such a nanocoating may play the role of nucleation site to bone, allowing a faster stabilization of the implant.